


You've got me

by tinytrash575



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: College, F/M, Family Dinners, Fluff and Angst, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mr Martin - Freeform, a little bit of awkward humour at the beginning, breaking bad news at the dinner table trope, post 6b
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-02-01 13:48:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12706257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinytrash575/pseuds/tinytrash575
Summary: Stiles comforts Lydia when she receives some unpleasant news during dinner with her mother while they're on their first Christmas break in college.





	You've got me

Natalie Martin stirred the simmering pot of pasta sauce sat on the stove of her kitchen’s large oven, turning the heat off as she rested the wooden spoon against the side. She looked over at the empty dishes sat along the kitchen counter, realising that now was probably a good time to notify her daughter and guest that dinner was almost ready.

“Lydia,” she shouted up the stairs after moving temporarily out of the kitchen. “Stiles. Dinner is almost ready.” She waited approximately ten seconds to listen for a response or the sound of movement upstairs, but after hearing nothing she returned to the kitchen.

As Natalie started placing the drained pasta into the deep dishes sat on the counter, she thought to herself how nice it was to not be eating alone. With Lydia being at college on the other side of the country, their house was beginning to feel very lonely, even if her daughter wasn’t home much before she went off to college. But now she was home, at least for a few weeks, and Natalie was glad to have her back.

A good few minutes ticked by and there was still no response from upstairs, so Natalie called again. It wasn’t until her third call after she’d dished up all of the pasta and sauce that the sounds of movement came from upstairs. Natalie heard the continuous rhythmic thudding of someone thundering down the stairs, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps, and then her daughter and her boyfriend appeared in the kitchen entrance.

“You called, mom,” said Lydia as she stood in the doorway, pulling the spaghetti strap of the tank top she was wearing up her shoulder.

“Yes, about three times,” Natalie responded, taking the now empty pot of pasta sauce over to the kitchen sink. “Dinner is ready.”

“Oh,” said Lydia, somewhat sheepishly as she glanced over at the plates waiting on the island. “We didn’t hear you.”

“Yeah, we um,” Stiles started to add, sounding even more sheepish than Lydia had. “We had music playing.” Natalie suppressed a smile as she watched Lydia try to subtly shoot him a look.

“Sorry,” Lydia apologised, smiling at her mother.

“Don’t worry about it,” she replied, still struggling not to smile. They know she wasn’t born yesterday. “You guys look a little flushed, Are you hot? Do you want me to open a window?”

“No, its fine,” Lydia answered hastily, still flashing Natalie a wide smile as she played with the end of her messy ponytail. “It’s just a little stuffy upstairs, and well, we haven’t adapted back to west coast weather yet.”

“Ah,” said Natalie, raising her eyebrows and smiling before glancing over at the food. There was a very heavy second where no one spoke.

“Is that spaghetti?” asked Stiles loudly, breaking through the silence and pointing to the dishes lining the counter.

“Yeah, it is,” Natalie responded. “I’m just going to grab the parmesan from the fridge. You guys can take your plates through, cutlery is already out.”

“Ok,” said Lydia, watching her mom walk away before closing her eyes and trying not to giggle. She moved over to the counter and grabbed her plate, motioning for Stiles to follow her and do the same. As soon as their eyes met she started laughing.

“So it wasn’t just me getting major awkwardness vibes back there,” said Stiles to Lydia once they were in the dining room, who had only just managed to stop giggling.

“Nope,” she answered, setting her plate down. The uncomfortable look on Stiles’ face almost made Lydia start laughing again as she remembered a conversation they’d had about how he still felt somewhat intimidated by her mother. He said that he struggled separating Natalie the teacher from Natalie, his girlfriend’s mom. This amused Lydia somewhat.

“She totally knew we were lying, didn’t she?” asked Stiles, cringing a little as he glanced down at the steaming bowl of pasta in front of him before meeting Lydia’s eyes.

“Yup,” Lydia answered nonchalantly. She knew very well that her mother hadn’t believed them and she’d had no intention of telling her the truth, it was one of their many silent agreements. While Lydia liked to think that she had a close relationship with her mother, there were some things she just didn’t want to talk to her about, her love life being one of them. When it came to staying out or having boyfriends over, Lydia always told her mother a not unconvincing lie and she pretended to believe her, those were the rules.

“Was it me?” Stiles asked from across the table, a hint of mild panic in his voice. Lydia forgot that she and her mother’s little system may seem unusual to someone as awkward as Stiles. “Is my shirt on inside out?”

“No,” she reassured him, gently biting her bottom lip so she didn’t start laughing again. “You probably could’ve fixed your hair though,” she teased, enjoying the silent panic he was failing to mask as she pretended to suddenly be very interested in her fork.

“Well how bad is it?” Stiles exclaimed a few seconds after Lydia went silent, pointing at his hair.

“Shh,” she replied, grinning as the silhouette of her mother appeared in the doorway. Stiles was suddenly very quiet, straightening himself out in his chair as Natalie came into the room with parmesan cheese, a cheese grater and some sprigs of fresh herbs.

“This smells really good mom,” said Lydia as soon as her mother reached the table, smiling up at her as she placed the plate with the cheese on in the middle of the table.

“You guys didn’t have to wait for me,” Natalie responded as she settled down into the chair at the head of the table, taking a sip from the glass of wine she’d placed on the coaster when she’d set the table.

“It’s fine,” replied Lydia, Stiles nodding in agreement, and then with everyone now sat down they started to eat.

They ate mostly in silence, the only sound the occasional clinking of glasses and cutlery. There were also quiet slurps as they tried to place forkfuls of spaghetti into their mouths as tidily as possible, most of the noise coming from Stiles. Lydia watched him try to suck one long string of pasta into his mouth, but it ended up hitting his cheek before it went in, splattering him with pasta sauce. Lydia silently laughed as he tried to subtly wipe it off.

“So, Lydia,” Natalie began, breaking the long silence.

“Yes mom,” Lydia replied after swallowing her mouthful.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” she responded firmly. Her tone immediately formed a knot in Lydia’s stomach.

“What is it?” she asked, concern lacing her voice.

“It’s nothing serious,” Natalie reassured her. “I’m okay.” Lydia breathed a silent sigh of relief.

“Good,” she replied, turning quickly back to her food.

“It’s just your father,” Natalie admitted.

“What about him?” Lydia respond, her voice filling with apathetic boredom.

“He’s coming over for Christmas,” stated Natalie.

“What?” asked Lydia, trying not to let the anger that was rapidly filling her from escaping into her voice.

“Well,” Natalie started tentatively. “He called me over Thanksgiving saying how bad he felt about missing your graduation, he insisted on coming over at Christmas.”

“Took him a long time to express his remorse,” Lydia scoffed sarcastically. She could feel her face starting to heat up and thick, incredulous anger swirling in her chest. She gripped her fork tighter.

“Lydia,” her mother said, almost warningly. “I’m sorry to drop this on you at such short notice, but I wanted to tell you in person.”

“Its fine,” Lydia responded, the pitch of her voice heightening in a way that everyone at the table knew meant that it was very much not fine. “Don’t worry about it mom.”

“It’ll be fine sweetie,” Natalie tried reassuring her.

“I know,” she replied flatly, not looking at her mother. Across the table, Stiles shot her a concerned look. She gave him a thin smile and kept eating.

The rest of the meal was finished in silence, only this time the silence was much less comfortable. After dinner, Lydia silently took her plate to the kitchen, and then waited for Stiles to take his, before quietly telling her mother that they were heading back upstairs. Once they were up there, Lydia sat down on the edge of her bed, grabbing a handful of the unmade covers while staring at the floor as she felt the weight of the mattress dip beside her.

“Hey,” Stiles said softly. “You ok?”

She looked at him, closing her eyes before shaking her head. “I don’t want to see him,” she declared, sighing heavily. “I don’t want him to be here.”

“I know,” Stiles replied, wrapping his arm around her back and resting his hand on her waist. “And it must really suck how he just picks and chooses when to show up for you.”

That was the worst part about it, the part that made her so angry that she wanted to scream. He’d chosen to walk out of her life, that she could accept. He’d chosen to miss birthdays and Christmases and to never call her to see how she was doing, and that stung, but she could live with it. But if she was going to see him then she felt like it should be on her terms. He wasn’t a part of this family any more, he couldn’t just waltz in whenever he felt like it after missing so much. It wasn’t fair. “It does.”

“But you don’t have to deal with him on your own,” Stiles told Lydia, love and concern radiating from his eyes as she met his gaze. “You’ve got me.”

“Won’t you be busy?” she asked, her voice quiet. She was no longer attempting to mask her disappointment over this situation.

“Not busy enough to support you through this,” he answered, happiness lacing his features as he watched the small smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth. Lydia could feel his words thawing her, dissolving the heavy tension in her chest. “Me and dad usually go over to Scott’s for Christmas, they’ll understand if I come here for a few hours.”

Once more, Lydia reminded herself how incredibly lucky she’d gotten finding him. Nobody had ever shown her this much support, this much unconditional love, she almost struggled to comprehend it.

“Just call me when you need me,” Stiles told her, his voice still gentle. “And I’ll be there.”

“Thank you,” Lydia sighed, leaning into his shoulder and allowing the current of anger swirling within her to subside as she exhaled. She still wasn’t happy about this, not at all, and she only had a few days to emotionally prepare herself, but at least she knew that she didn’t have to face him alone, that Stiles would be with her the whole time if she asked.

“You know I’d do anything for you,” Stiles said, kissing Lydia’s forehead. She sat upright, wanting to look him in the eyes and show him how grateful she was for his support, how much it meant to her.

 “And hey,” Stiles continued, his voice taking on a more playful tone. “I’ve got a little experience dealing with other peoples asshole dads, even if Scott’s dad is much less of an asshole now.”

Lydia smiled, knowing that had been his intention, watching his face light up as she did. She leaned over and kissed him, realising that she could never find the words to tell him how much he meant to her, but knowing that she could show him, every single day.


End file.
